Moderna’s Brad Miller On How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next Level

As a part of our series about “How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next Level”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Brad Miller.

Prior to joining Moderna in January 2023, Brad served as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Enterprise Products and Platforms at Capital One, where he was responsible for building and operating critical enterprise services and digital experiences across all lines of business. He also held technology leadership roles as Executive Vice President of Operations and Technology at Mastercard and Head of Global Digital and Cloud Technology at Citibank. Prior to his posts in the financial services industry, Brad spent about 17 years in various engineering roles at Amazon and Microsoft.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

After receiving my master’s degree from the University of Nottingham, I was eager to find a job. One of my university roommates from Waterloo worked at Microsoft and helped me get a foot in the door. I ended up joining the PowerPoint team, a small group based in Silicon Valley that came out of an acquisition with the software company Forethought.

I went on to grow my early career in various roles at Microsoft and Amazon. These positions were by no means linear, as I often made lateral movements for roles that piqued my interest. It allowed me to round out different skill sets, while getting exposure to different types of teams. This was pivotal in my professional journey, as I looked to fill my toolbox with the skills and capabilities that I needed to become a well-rounded executive and technology leader.

Following nearly two decades in tech, I decided to challenge myself and explore a career in the financial services sector. I was curious about the impact I could drive by applying the practices I learned from leading digital transformations at both Microsoft and Amazon. I served as an executive at Citibank, Mastercard and Capital One, where I built and operated critical enterprise services and digital experiences for nearly a decade.

Throughout my career, I’ve always been passionate about building organizations, platforms and solutions that not only address core business challenges, but also drive a positive impact on humanity. So, when the job at Moderna presented itself, I saw an opportunity as an industry outsider to help expand the company’s tech capabilities and better serve patients. My expertise and belief that tech must be at the center of business, aligned really well with Moderna’s philosophy and mission.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

There’s one story that goes to show how far I’ve come in my career, but also how far technology has come! When I started working at Microsoft in 1998, our office manager got me set up in my own office and taught me how to use my laptop and its docking station — or so I thought. On day one, when it was time to head home, I didn’t realize the laptop disconnected from the docking station and packed the entire thing in my bag. It wasn’t until my boss pulled me aside and asked me if there was a problem with my docking station later that week, that I learned my laptop easily detached from the dock. To this day, this story not only makes me laugh but humbles me. It reminds me that as humans, we’re all fallible. Much like new technology, we must always embrace change and evolve with it.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I wouldn’t be where I am today without my amazing mentor and friend, Matt Swan. He was a Vice President at Amazon when I joined in 2011 and served as a long-standing advisor, who guided me throughout the early stages of my career. Many years later, I ended up following him over to Citibank to lead their global digital and cloud technology team. Matt empowered me to go beyond my comfort level. Thanks to his support and guidance, I was able to leverage my experience of driving technical change and building operating models and apply it to digital transformations outside the technology realm. He also instilled in me that leadership is all about the impact you have on others, not about your own personal growth. Matt taught me by example that if you lead with this mindset, a multiplier effect will follow. He’s undoubtedly made an impact on my career and shaped me into the leader I am today.

Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

Sometimes, you see relevance in odd places, and my answer to this question brings forward a fictional book that directly relates to some of my most important learnings. The Martian by Andy Weir is a powerful book that I often use as a teaching mechanism for my teams. For those who haven’t read it or seen the movie starring Matt Damon, the main character is stranded on Mars and has to figure out how to survive before his “end date.” Throughout the story he’s faced with optimizing and prioritizing his resources for the future and essentially tasked with innovating and simplifying extremely complex scenarios into a sequence of events to maintain survival. For us in tech, this is exactly how we build software and decompose larger strategic initiatives down to key deliverables that we’re going to execute upon. In our field, this approach ensures we’re on the right path or helps us understand when we need to pivot. This is key for Moderna, as we’re functioning as a nimble organization and always trying new things.

Are you working on any new, exciting projects now? How do you think that might help people?

I typically like to embrace a product mindset over a project mindset. Right now, the most important “product” that I’m working on is our organization. I treat my day-to-day work as a product and the people within our company are the users of that product. At Moderna, we’re working on so many exciting things, but we’re focused on outcomes, not output. I know I can speak for everyone when I say that we’re obsessed with how we build our teams and our technology, ensuring that we build at the right time and in the right way that’s scalable. We’re building digital-first, which allows us to be more agile across the organization in order to deliver potential medicines to patients faster and with the highest quality. This is my priority as we continue to use the latest technology to train our teams and disrupt the traditional “pharma” operating model to drive impact and address evolving global health needs.

Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion about Digital Transformation. For the benefit of our readers, can you help explain what exactly Digital Transformation means? On a practical level what does it look like to engage in a Digital Transformation?

It’s no secret that everything is digital today, but it’s challenging to narrowly define digital transformation in that way. At Moderna, our translation of digital transformation is digital optimization and evolution. That’s just how we see it. It’s all about building disruptive systems that enable digital interface outcomes.

On a practical level, digital transformation is broadly the enablement of cloud-based distributed software engineering that decomposes massive monolithics into small bits that ultimately work together to create new experiences.

Which companies can most benefit from a Digital Transformation?

I believe all companies can benefit from digital optimization. We all have a piece of that transformation to go through and it’s never a “one and done.” To me, the question is really how do you apply a lens of constant transformation and consistent refactoring of your systems? This enables organizations to invest minimally to get to the next level of user capabilities, often some that you didn’t know you needed. Rather than having to go back to the drawing board and rewrite or deploy massive initiatives, you can evolve your platforms.

Has integrating Digital Transformation been a challenging process for some companies? What are the challenges? How do you help resolve them?

One challenge I’ve seen companies face time and time again is not building on a modern tech stack. A company’s tech stack, including AI, machine learning, IoT and cloud computing, are essentially the building blocks to a successful transformation. They need to start here or recognize the gap early on to achieve digital transformational goals, drive impactful outcomes and ultimately save in the future.

Based on your experience and success, what are “Four Ways a Company Can Use Digital Transformation To Take It To The Next Level”?

1. It comes down to people: You can have the right strategy, but if you don’t have the right people in the right roles, your digital transformation won’t be successful. This is critical for organizations to achieve success at all stages of a digital transformation.
2. Accelerate productivity, collaboration and efficiency: Digital optimization has the potential to generate faster and more efficient workflows and processes across an organization. In turn, teams have more autonomy to put their focus where they can drive a more direct impact, often increasing productivity and improving the employee experience in parallel.
3. Evolve your operating model with your tech: Many companies’ operations are in silos before undergoing a digital transformation. Through digital optimization, they can look to refine elements of their internal operating models — think cutting costs and streamlining processes. However, it also allows organizations to be more agile externally and deliver a more seamless customer experience.
4. Monitor and measure results: Once a company begins a transformation, it’s essential to monitor and measure its progress to maximize the ROI of its tech investments.

In your opinion, how can companies best create a “culture of innovation” in order to create new competitive advantages?

I believe it all starts with curiosity and learning. If you don’t have mechanisms or feedback loops in place, you can’t really be curious. If you don’t have the data, you can’t learn, and therefore you miss out on opportunities for innovation. Being open to failure fosters this type of culture and environment. I’ve found that being wrong often breeds the biggest innovations. It’s important to be humble — we don’t have all the answers and should stay open to external inputs. Having a ton of humility goes a long way. You don’t hear a lot of people talk about the intersection of innovation and humility, but it’s something we can all practice.

From a Moderna perspective, we’re focused on hiring the right people who embrace these aspects of our company. Since day one, I’ve felt connected to our values and our Moderna Mindsets — the principles that codify our culture and emphasize how we overcome challenges and succeed together. They’re infused throughout the entire organization. I personally relate to our “digitize everywhere possible” Mindset, applying my passion to create efficiencies wherever possible to best serve patients every day.

Moderna’s learning Mindset is also core to who we are and enables us to drive transformation. We receive innovative and transformational learning, upskilling and career development training — from AI, to leadership and mRNA science. To me, these opportunities enhance our culture, promote well-being and help drive outcomes.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose” — Coach Taylor, Friday Night Lights

This has to be my favorite quote that I’ve come to live by. A version of this quote has become a mantra in my household: “Open Mind, Clear Eyes, Big Heart” — something I say to my kids almost daily. To me, it represents being present in the moment and optimistic about whatever life throws at us. It’s all about filling our hearts with love and compassion and giving our all in everything that we do. With this in mind, we really can’t lose.

How can our readers further follow your work?

LinkedIn: @Brad Miller

Moderna LinkedIn: @Modernatx

Moderna Website: https://www.modernatx.com/en-US

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!